Video game music has evolved from the bleeps and bloops of the Atari 2600 and early arcade titles to the orchestral scores found in Final Fantasy and Skyrim. For many of us, video game music played a bigger part in our lives than the latest pop hits. Join us on a bi- monthly journey as we celebrate the sounds of our favorite past time. In this inaugural volume of RF Jamz, we will be looking at arranged music from three iconic series. Each one of these series has amazing music in their own right, but the arrangements, like a cherry on top of sundae, add something special. Let's take a look at them now.

Our first album is a recording of a live big band performance of songs based on the Mario & The Legend of Zelda series. There are countless arrangements of music from these series but the Big Band of Rogues (Tokyo Cuban Boys Jr) breathes new life in to familiar melodies with touch of Jazz. Track 16 (The Legend of Zelda Theme) is a standout by using a saxophone in the Legend of Zelda's iconic opening. The violin in Track 10 (Dragon Roost Island theme) steals the show and is my favorite arrangement of the song. My favorite, Track 2 (Super Mario 64 Opening Theme) should bring back memories to anyone who has played Super Mario 64 with a bombastic opening that never stops.

Our second album comes from Konami and features the music of Konami Kukeiha Club (Konami Square Wave Club), Konami's in house band. It was not unusual for a Japanese game company to have an in house band as Sega, Falcom, Capcom, and even SNK had them. The arrangements found in this album run a wide range of themes such as Trance, Jazz-Rock, Techno, and Chiptune. Track 42 is one of my favorites as it keeps a constant fast paced techno beat that feels like it would be at home in my favorite of the series Gradius Gaiden. It's also the first time I've ever heard a Speak & Spell used in a composition. Track 40 is also a standout as a Jazz-Rock remix from Gradius II that would be perfect for a Bemani or Guitar Hero game. The guitar is front and center and really makes you want to grab a guitar and start strumming along.

Great selections; thanks for sharing! Those big band tracks were really unique and interesting. I haven't heard anything quite like that before. Have you listened to the One-Ups at all? They do jazzy remixes of many 8 and 16-bit game tracks. I'm a big game music lover as well and am looking forward to future pieces like this. I may have to track down that Gradius album for myself.

Great contribution, thank you! It is amazing how game music became a part of us. We listenened to the music of certain games more than to any other song, and we immediately recognize these songs which are associated with the emotional ups and downs of gameplay. Just the theme song of Super Mario 64 brought a smile back. Great soundtracks of all genres are vastly underappreciated.

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